Hosted by the British Prime Minister, Mr Boris Johnson, the event brought together African leaders, international business chief executives and heads of international organisations. The summit was billed to create new partnerships that will deliver more investments and jobs to the benefit of people and businesses in African countries and the United Kingdom.
It was not the first of such summits. The Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit was held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea between 19-21 November 2014.
The China-Africa summit saw Heads of State, Government and Delegations of China and 53 African countries and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) gathered in China on the 3rd and 4th of September for the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
The first Russia-Africa Summit was held on 2324 October 2019 in Sochi, Russia, co-hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. A total of 43 Heads of State or government were in attendance.
There has also been the Africa Forum Canada, US-Africa Summit, German African Business Summit (GABS), the Japan-Africa and even India-Africa Summit.
The UK-Africa summit has been lauded as a major success. Part of the laudable outcome, according to UK and African leaders, was the 1.5 billion ($2 billion) worth of initiatives, including 350 million to develop sustainable infrastructure projects announced by the UK government.
As a result of the summit also, UK is setting up infrastructure partnerships with Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda alongside the African Development Bank (AfDB), with the aim of generating billions of pounds of private sector investment in sustainable energy, transport and telecoms.
The organisers also announced several oil and gas deals sealed on the sidelines of the conference. They include the Savannah Petroleum investment of 315 million in the acquisition of gas assets in Nigeria and Tullow Oils 1.2 billion investment in oil production in Kenya.
The summits with US, Russia, Canada, India, Japan, Turkey and Germany also have the same trumpeted outcomes. And going by the summit calendar for the year 2020, it is already filled up.
But what is worrying is that the attention Africa is now receiving from developed and developing nations are largely self-serving. It all boils down to another race and scramble for Africa and its resources.
For example, with the UK on the verge of leaving the European Union (EU) on terms yet to be agreed, needs to shore up its trading relations with other parts of the world, especially with its former colonies and dependable allies in Africa.
To boost this plan, only 21 of the 53 countries in the continent were invited. Africa is being courted because the continent has eight of the 15 fastest growing economies in the world. And by 2050, will be home to a quarter of the worlds consumers. That spells opportunity and a way of mitigating the damage Brexit could do.
So, it seems that the summits are less about promoting effective development of Africa and more about promoting the business interests of the countries hosting them. This means that if these summits are not succinctly for stimulating private sector growth, stimulating export growth and job creation and implementing initiatives that improves the standard of living of Africans, it remains a jamboree.
For now, its about boosting the egos of the attendees and not about having tangible and lasting effects on the continent. And for all the talk about investment, the amount of capital committed to Africa hasnt been on the increase.
The bottom line is that if African leaders attending the summits cannot negotiate individually or collectively for better trade terms, they must stop and help make the continent less of a laughing stock.
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